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I am new to Stack Overflow and to coding; I am learning my way.

This morning, I spent well over an hour composing a question so as to make it as clear and concise as possible before posting onto stackoverflow.com.

Immediately after posting, I was unavoidably (and protestingly) called away from the computer, so I wasn't present to interact with responders during that crucial first 20 minutes after posting. I came back, eager to see what ideas others had left, and found one single response that indicated that others had responded, but their responses were now gone.

  • Is it considered rude to post and not be present for the responses?

  • Is it the culture on Stack Overflow to delete answers if the poster (question asker) isn't there to respond?

  • Is it acceptable to re-post the same question to solicit different answers?

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    Can you show a link to the question in question? People deleting their contributions all at once would be more than unusual. – Pekka Mar 27 '11 at 22:56
  • stackoverflow.com/questions/5451281/… – user159392 Mar 27 '11 at 22:57
  • @user I have 10k+ reputation so I would see if there were deleted answers, and there definitely are none. (I can't speak to comments, only developers can see those once they're deleted.) Is it possible you mixed up the question with one of your others? – Pekka Mar 27 '11 at 22:58
  • I always do wish question askers would stick around after posting a question. I don't consider it rude not to but often that is the time their question will get most attention so it is in their interests to be available to provide any clarifications. – Martin Smith Mar 27 '11 at 23:00
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    @user Are you perhaps referring to the statement: I completely agree with Bjorn comment from 22 minutes ago ? If so, note that Bjorn left a comment just beneath your question. – moinudin Mar 27 '11 at 23:01
  • Thank you very much. The sole responder referred to "Bjorn's" answer and I presumed such a response had occurred and been deleted. Since answers come in thick/fast almost immed after posting, and since it appears (to me) that a poster's comments are integral to problem-solving, I presumed responses had been deleted. It is helpful to know the actual behind-the-scenes from an admin's perspective. Thanks. Is it appropriate to repost? – user159392 Mar 27 '11 at 23:02
  • Ayyyy... Thanks Marcog, no I didn't see that. My bad. – user159392 Mar 27 '11 at 23:03
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    @user: A little nomenclature may help. you asked a "question", macguru2000 provided and "answer", and Bjorn left a "comment". Comments may be left on questions or answers. Unless there are things going on not visible to 10k users, everything appears to be above the board. And, BTW, thanks for taking some time over your question. We like to see that. – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Mar 27 '11 at 23:20
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Is it considered rude to post and not be present for the responses?

Not really - SO is a "asynchronous" site and it is understood and respected that people can't be around all the time. But it is very advisable to stick around for the first 10-20 minutes to be able to react to comments: It's the time with the most views, and most likely the most feedback. It's also an important time window to defuse misunderstandings.

Is it the culture on stackoverflow to delete answers if the poster isn't there to respond?

No. I've never seen that happen. As said in the comment, maybe you mixed up the question with some other one - the one you link to definitely has no deleted answers.

Is it acceptable to re-post the same question to solicit different answers?

No, this is very much frowned upon. It is better to edit the question in order to bump it back to the front page, or to start a bounty on it. See also: Getting attention for unanswered questions?

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  • Exactly what I wanted to know, thanks. – user159392 Mar 27 '11 at 23:06
  • @user you're welcome. By the way, if you're not happy with the answers to your PHP question yet, there is nothing wrong with removing the check mark (to show that you're still looking for an answer) and giving the question another push. – Pekka Mar 27 '11 at 23:07
  • Thanks for that link -- very interesting reading. There are several issues discussed that that are helpful. One further point is the need to accept multiple answers that each answer part of the question. – user159392 Mar 27 '11 at 23:13
  • @user you can select only one answer, but you can vote up other answers that have been useful to you. This brings the answer up and also rewards the poster with +10 reputation. – gideon Mar 28 '11 at 3:40

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